Transcribed from the 1895 Methuen & Co. edition(Comedies of William Congreve, Volume 2) by DavidPrice,
Audire est operæ pretium,procedere recte
Qui mæchis non vultis.—Hor. Sat. i. 2, 37.—Metuat doti deprensa.—Ibid.
My Lord,—Whether the worldwill arraign me of vanity or not, that I have presumed todedicate this comedy to your lordship, I am yet in doubt; though,it may be, it is some degree of vanity even to doubt of it. One who has at any time had the honour of your lordship’sconversation, cannot be supposed to think very meanly of thatwhich he would prefer to your perusal. Yet it were to incurthe imputation of too much sufficiency to pretend to such a meritas might abide the test of your lordship’s censure.
Whatever value may be wanting to this play while yet it ismine, will be sufficiently made up to it when it is once becomeyour lordship’s; and it is my security, that I cannot haveoverrated it more by my dedication than your lordship willdignify it by your patronage.
That it succeeded on the stage was almost beyond myexpectation; for but little of it was prepared for that generaltaste which seems now to be predominant in the palates of ouraudience.
Those characters which are meant to be ridiculed in most ofour comedies are of fools so gross, that in my humble opinionthey should rather disturb than divert the well-natured andreflecting part of an audience; they are rather objects ofcharity than contempt, and instead of moving our mirth, theyought very often to excite our compassion.
This reflection moved me to design some characters whichshould appear ridiculous not so much through a natural folly(which is incorrigible, and therefore not proper for the stage)as through an affected wit: a wit which, at the same time that itis affected, is also false. As there is some difficulty inthe formation of a character of this nature, so there is somehazard which attends the progress of its success upon the stage:for many come to a play so overcharged with criticism, that theyvery often let fly their censure, when through their rashnessthey have mistaken their aim. This I had occasion lately toobserve: for this play had been acted two or three days beforesome of these hasty judges could find the leisure to distinguishbetwixt the character of a Witwoud and a Truewit.
I must beg your lordship’s pardon for this digressionfrom the true course of this epistle; but that it may not seemaltogether impertinent, I beg that I may plead the occasion ofit, in part of that excuse of which I stand in need, forrecommending this comedy to your protection. It is only bythe countenance of your lordship, and the few soqualified, that such who write with care and pains can hope to bedistinguished: for the prostituted name of poet promiscuouslylevels all that bear it.
Terence, the most correct writer in the world, had a Scipioand a Lelius, if not to assist him, at least to support him inhis reputation. And notwithstanding his extraordinarymerit, it may be their countenance was not more thannecessary.
The purity of his style, the delicacy of his turns, and thejustness of his characters, were all of them beauties which thegreater part of his audience were incapable of tasting. Some of the coarsest strokes of Plautus, so severely censured byHorace, were more likely to affect the multitude; such, who comewith expectation to laugh at the last act of a play, and arebetter entertained with two or th